The New Orleans is celebrating Saints’ Victory

Returning from Miami after a 31-17 Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints were welcomed by thousands of cheering fans who decked in black-and-gold lining the road. They were welcoming the champions and greeting a team of heroes who have kept hope alive in this city.


Wearing Saints jerseys, they just came from the all-night party celebrating the Saints’ first Super Bowl victory in 43 years of history. At first fans even had trouble believing the win, but soon threw a huge “Lombardi Party” with pride and ecstasy. Four years after the Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city and destroyed thousands of homes and small businesses, something really worth excitement really happened. Long-suffering fans throughout the city shot off fireworks, danced in the streets and second-lined down the St. Charles Avenue streetcar tracks.

“After Katrina everyone was hurting,” said Derek Stevens, 27, who was still on Bourbon Street at dawn. “The Saints was the one thing we had that was positive, that made us hopeful.”

Yeah, people in New Orleans seemed crazy all the day and night, but everyone aware of the pain they suffered understands their feeling and knows they should be so.

RB Bush expects nothing more than being with Saints

After scoring three touchdowns in the New Orleans Saints’ first two playoff games, running back Reggie Bush now has won a Super Bowl and a BCS national title at Sun Life Stadium. As about the future, he said he expects nothing more than playing football in Saints jersey for the rest of his career.


Except for the postseason performance, Bush did not do good enough job in regular season, having a career-low 117 touches on offense and having been hampered by knee injuries for much of his career. As the No.2 overall pick in 2006, he has not lived up to the high bar set by the Saints. Even a few days before the Super Bowl game, Bush admitted himself that he had not lived up to his own expectations.

Because of the poor regular-season performance, there were rumors that Bush would be asked to take a pay cut or be released in the offseason. Bush’s base salary is $8 million in 2010, but it seems that Bush does not mind gaining less than that as long as he could stay with the Saints.

“Anything is possible,” he said. “That’s kind of the mindset you have in this league. As for me, I would love nothing more than to be in New Orleans for the rest of my career.”

McAllister will be with Saints during Super Bowl

Although Deuce McAllister does not play game any more for the New Orleans Saints, it seems that the Saints players will be in great mood as long as he was there with them. Kicking consultant John Carney’s words just represent most Saints.

“When I think of Deuce, I think of a player that embodies what we want to be about and we want to represent as a New Orleans Saints,” Carney said. “That is tough, dependable, strong - a guy who’s got strong faith in his abilities, a guy that anybody would want as a teammate and friend.”

Because of operations on each knee, 31-year-old McAllister officially retired last month as there seemed no team to give him chance to play in NFL jersey again. A few days later the Saints decided to re-sign him for a purely ceremonial role when they beat the Arizona Cardinals to win division title. By the end of his playing days with the Saints, McAllister had led the team with 6,096 career rushing yards as well as 55 total touchdowns and 49 rushing TDs.

Saints are also planning to give their No.1 QB contract extension

While recent reports said that the Indianapolis Colts are planning to sign contract extension with their four-time MVP quarterback Peyton Manning, their Super Bowl opponent, the New Orleans Saints will do similar thing to Drew Brees.

While Manning’s contract is to expire after the 2010 season, Brees’ current deal will not expire until the end of the 2011 season. The current contract has made Brees the 17th-highest paid QB in the NFL this season. As the Colts plan to offer Manning the highest pay of the league, I guess the Saints’ offer for contract extension will give Brees some rise in quarterbacks’ payment ranking.

Perhaps it depends on the result of the Super Bowl game on this Sunday. At least Brees’ agent Tom Condon will do his best to strive for largest profit to his clients in both teams’ NFL jerseys- if Manning, who is also represented by Condon, is to get the highest pay, the Saints should show equal sincerity in keeping Brees as the Colts have shown in keeping Manning.

Colts DE Freeney along with several other starters missed practice with injuries

The most important thing the Indianapolis Colts need to do now should be to make sure all the starters will be healthy enough before the Super Bowl game against the New Orleans Saints. With more a week left for the game, they still have time to make it.


Starting defensive end Dwight Freeney is one of the focuses as he has missed two consecutive days of practice because of a sprained right ankle. Good news is that Colts Coach said Freeney is coming along in his recovery and team president Bill Polian is confident that Freeney will put on his Colts jersey to play in next week’s Super Bowl games.

Other injured starters who missed Thursday practice include starting cornerback Jerraud Powers and starting safety Melvin Bullitt. Powers sat out with a left foot injury that caused him to miss Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the New York Jets, and Bullitt did not practice because of a knee injury.